Update November 19, 2014: Don’t bother reading this post. It’s totally out-of-date and not being updated. Click on “iPad Mini Clones” and “Android” Category in the right sidebar to see posts about the latest ones. I’m not doing another all-in-one post like this because things change too fast.

This is a listing of strict iPad Mini clones, not of general eight-inch Chinese tablets (such as the Onda v812 aka Archos 80 Platinum).

All screens are generally iPad Mini size (7.85/7.9″) and full IPS at 1024 x 768 resolution.

They all run Android 4.1. [Update: As of May 10, some clones based on the AllWinner A31s CPU will get an update to Android 4.2.2. Rollout depends on vendor. Expect to get a tablet with Android 4.1 and have to manually update.]

They generally differ from one another in three main points: CPU, GPU, and camera resolution.

Note that some specifications are subject to change or might be imprecise due to machine translation. Product names might also be ambiguous due to trademark and language issues. This post will be updated as specs are solidified, so you might want to bookmark it.

In addition, I’m not including things such as 4K video output, which I consider to be a marketing gimmick few people will ever use.

Check each site for complete and final specs.

In most cases, the links within will go to a Chinese-language site. A frustration of these sites is that the text tends to be embedded in large graphics and cannot be machine translated because they are images.

Finally, I’ve done this guide for my personal reference. Due to legal issues surrounding “trade dress” (see Apple v. Samsung lawsuits across Europe) don’t expect these tablets to be generally available at local brick and mortar stores (as the Onda V812 is, which is rebranded as the Archos 80 Platinum).

Update: Tuesday, April 2, 2013:Pipo allegedly has an iPad Mini clone coming. Rumor says it will have a Rockchip 3188 CPU. Other details yet to emerge.

Update: Sunday, April 7, 2013: The brand name known as Cube (Shenzhen Alldo Cube Technology & Science Co., Ltd), is also introducing an iPad Mini clone, but I’m not yet sure if it’s the U33GT Mini or the U30GT Mini2 as some sites have reported. I will update this when I have confirmed information and specs.

Update: Tuesday, April 9, 2013: Cube’s new unit is now confirmed as the U30GT Mini 2, even thought it doesn’t yet appear at their own website. Here are the confirmed specs:

Update: Wednesday, April 10, 2013: Ramos has shown their color-backed versions of the X10:

And ICOO has sneak-peeked an iPad Mini clone:

No name or specs available yet.

Update, Thursday April 11, 2013: There is a rumor that next week at a Hong Kong trade show Ramos will show an updated version of its X10 tablet with a Samsung Exynos 4412 quad-core CPU. Scroll further down for details.

Update, Sunday April 14, 2013: In an apparent fit of insanity, Cube has given two tablets the same U30GT and U30GT2 designations: One that’s 10.1-inch and the other its iPad Mini Clone. Be prepared for search havoc.

Update, Monday April 15, 2013: A lot of small manufacturers are unveiling iPad Mini clones at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Spring Edition) this week. I won’t be adding these to the post until they have actual brand names — which could be never, given the intense competition.

Update, Monday April 15, 2013: A very odd duck has appeared. An iPad Mini clone that looks like the child of a Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0!

It’s not listed at their site at post time. The only specs known right now are an unknown quad-core CPU at 1.3GHz and a 7.9″ screen that’s likely 1024 x 768. It also has a special cover.

Update, Tuesday April 16, 2013: When all the ambiguous information in this post is solidified, I will do a new post. In the meantime, Vido has shown an iPad Mini clone called the N7 Mini. It’s not yet on their website. The only known specs so far: 7.85-inch screen at 1024 x 768, 6.8mm thin, and it uses the new 28nm quad-core Cortex A9 Rockchip 3188 running at 1.6GHz — which should make it a screamer, but let’s wait for actual reviews.

And I’ll drop this in here too: The HKC Quest has gotten benchmarked [Google English] by AnTuTu, surprisingly giving its Actions Owls series ATM7029 quad-core CPU a higher score than the AllWinner A31s (which is ~11,747): [Update: The score is fraudulent and I have removed it.]

Update, Thursday April 18, 2013: Additional specs are now in for the Vido N7 Mini:

Update, Thursday April 18, 2013: It turns out Ramos did mention an updated X10 at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair, the X10 Pro:

The MediaTek 8389 quad-core CPU is also being used in the Lenovo IdeaPad 6000. I haven’t been able to uncover any AnTuTu score for it yet. It’s very odd how Ramos could announce a new version within a month of the original X10! It makes me wonder how short their production runs are — and if they knew the X10 was too weak to begin with.

Update, Friday April 19, 2013: Colorfly (aka Colorful) will officially unveil its U781 iPad Mini clone on April 24th 27th in an event that will also be posted to their Sina Weibo account mini-blog (this is a popular thing in China that American companies should imitate with Twitter). Unverified specs are familiar: A31s quad-core CPU with a PowerVR SGX544 MP2 GPU, cameras 2MP front and 5MP back, and a disappointing 1GB of RAM — it sounds like this won’t be any better than the Onda V818.

Update, Sunday April 21, 2013: The Chuwi V88 has gone on pre-sale at TMall. Allegedly five-ten days wait for the 1GB RAM version, ten-fifteen days wait for the 2GB RAM version to be in stock. Choice of only black or white back. I guess the spectrum of color backs will come later (and be quite an inventory problem!). I hope we will see some videos of this within the next two weeks.

Update, Monday April 22, 2013: The HKC Quest has gone on pre-order. It is properly called the HKC Q79. Despite the benchmark shown above, the battery is now reported to be 3800mAh, which is so far the smallest capacity of the iPad Mini clones.

Update, Tuesday April 23, 2013: The HKC Q79 (aka Quest) has been benchmarked a second time [Google English]: [Update: The score is fraudulent and I have removed it.]

At some point, I might do a post compiling the various review AnTuTu scores. The HKC ones are puzzling because I thought I saw an AnTuTu score for it recently that placed it one-fourth below the above two scores. We still need to see benchmarks — and product introductions — for clones from Pipo, Cube, Vido, ICOO, Colorfly, and Ramos’ new X10Pro. [Update: My suspicions of fraud were correct.]

Update, Wednesday April 24, 2013: I thought today was the day Colorfly would introduce their clone. Either I typed the wrong date (I can’t find the original report in China) or it’s been changed. It will be introduced on the 27th.

Update, Thursday April 25, 2013: Colorfly did indeed introduce its clone yesterday. The specs for it above remain the same with one change: microSD card can go up to 64GBs. It will go on sale in May.

Teclast aka Taipower announced its clone, the P88s Mini. All that’s known is that it will have an A31s quad-core CPU, PowerVR SGX544 GPU, be 6.75mm thin, and the company has poor taste in press images:

Update, Wednesday May 8, 2013: Cube is either calling their iPad Mini clone the U35GT instead of the U30GT or there’s a different model. At any rate, here is its website via Google Translate.

Update, Thursday May 10, 2013: Icoo has announced its two(!) clones and they have a miserable name:

I’d seen buzz of it being called “Fatty” but thought that was a strange Google Translate error. It’s not. One is based on the Rockchip 3188 and one is based on the AllWinner A20 (I have no bloody idea what the A20 is right now). Having two different clones will wreak havoc. People who buy outside of China will inevitably wind up with the wrong model because the sellers really don’t care (just look at all the people who ordered the 2GB Chuwi V88 and got the 1GB model!). These are not yet listed on their website for full specs.

The Ampe A88 is an A31s-based clone:

Ampe claims they will be the first to update their tablets (including the A88) to Android 4.2.2. That may be so, but at post time I can’t call up this tablet at their link for full specs.

A company I’ve never heard of called ONN has announced its clone, the M5:

It has an unknown quad-core CPU and is not listed on their site for full specs. It claims to be just 5mm thick, which makes me wonder about the capacity of its battery.

Update, Monday May 13, 2013: Ployer has announced an A31s-based iPad Mini clone, called the MONO MOMO Mini. No full specs are yet available and it’s not on their website.

Update, Tuesday May 14, 2013: A photo has emerged of Vido’s iPad Mini clone, called the MiniOne (sometimes M1):

Claiming the narrowest side bezels (take that, Colorfly) at just 5.9mm, it’s a quad-core Rockchip 3188 CPU with quad-core Mali 400 533Mhz GPU and 2GBs of DDR3 RAM. It will be available in 8GB and 16GB internal storage models. 2MP front and 5MP back cameras, weight of 300 grams. But no mention of Bluetooth even though this is very similar to the Chuwi V88 — except it has a weaker 4000mAh battery. It’s not yet listed on their website and price and release dates are unknown.

The MiniPad H1 is a me-too product based on the quad-core Actions ATM7029 CPU. A lot like the HKC Q79 (Quest). I don’t expect this one to go anywhere as it seems to be from a factory looking for wholesale orders [Google English] to rebadge it, but here’s a picture anyway:

It turns out the AllWinner A20 in the Icoo Fatty 1 is a dual-core CPU. The Fatty 2 has a quad-core Rockchip 3188. Revisionist site IMP3Net explains the difference [Google English] and posts credible AnTuTu scores for each:

I don’t think anyone will want to buy the Fatty 1 at any price.

Update, Saturday May 18, 2013: Newsmy has officially announced the Newman S8 Color. It’s identical to the Chuwi V88, but seems to lack Bluetooth and battery is listed as 4500mAh (versus 5000mAh claimed by Chuwi):

Update May 21, 2013: HKC has announced a 3G version of the HKC Q79 (Quest) [Google English]. In the end, you’ll still be stuck with the slowest of the iPad Mini clones. Note that AnTuTu scores for the Q79 posted above are proved to be fraudulent.

Revisionist site IMP3Net has published AnTuTu scores for the A31s-based Ployer MOMO [Google English]. My position on the A31s CPU is this: If you’re going to settle for an AnTuTu score of 11,000-12,000, just go buy the Archos 80 Titanium. Sure, it’s not an iPad Mini clone, and its has a dual-core CPU, but reviews have been generally good, you don’t have to go through the headache of ordering from China and you can return it locally if you don’t like it.

The Cube U35GT is back in the news [Google English]. This time it has 1GBs of RAM, not the 2GBs previously reported. It has a quad-core Rockchip 3188 and the other specs likely remain the same as before (scroll back up or use Find).

Update May 23, 2013: ICOO is claiming a 5,500mAh battery is in their Fatty 2 iPad Mini clone [Google English]:

Until I see one disassembled — outside of China — I’ll have my doubts. They can play with screen brightness and math to get that effective capacity without the battery actually being 5,500mAh.

Update May 24, 2013: Dealing with Chinese tech sites is getting depressing. Two of the first three posts I clicked on today were advertorial graft and at another site I had my astroturfing allegation confirmed (that will be a separate post). The announcements of new iPad Mini clones have stopped. So within the next two weeks, I will start compiling the 2.0 version of this post, which I hope to never have to update again. This will be the final update of this post until then.

Two tablets that do not qualify for this list:

1) Goopad Mini. Despite the (very misleading) ads that clutter the Net, the Goopad Mini is a regular eight-inch tablet that looks nothing like a true iPad Mini clone.

I have the hkc q79. Bought it 2 days ago in Singapore. Antutu crashes after 1s so I couldn’t run benchmark.
My Huawei 3G dongle works fine with it but i did not manage to use my iphone 3GS as hotspot via bluetooth.
The tablet can be charged via the micro-usb port. I used my samsung note 10.1 power adaptor and the microUSB cord that comes with the hkc and it worked.
Running some battery test now. 3h SD movie and still 42% battery left.
Hdmi works well.
NTFS drive can be mounted if the HD is selfpowered. My portable HD won’t mount.
It does not come pre-rooted.
In term of speed, it’s not in the same league as the galaxy note 10.1. Wifi is weaker and it’s just not as smooth in term of response.
I bought it to read comics, watch movie, check flipboard and it’s perfect for that.

The only one I haven’t heard of before is the Newsmy brand. There’s also one from Fushilai (I think it is). I’m not adding new ones to the Guide until they get some news coverage. I suspect some will be vaporware. And it seems Cube can’t make up its mind after all, and is releasing two clones.

It’s a bit wider, so I doubt it. Also, there are the openings to contend with. I wonder if the back camera would line up with an iPad Mini’s case? I don’t think the Volume and Power switches would as they are on an angle. And if you’re thinking of using a Smart Cover, it’s unlikely the Chuwi has the capability to turn on automagically when you lift the cover.

I’ve never seen that before. Anyway, the edges of the V88 aren’t flat like the Mini, so I don’t know if it could be used at all even if the dimensions were identical. Maybe hunt for that item in Youku videos and see if anyone is using it with another clone.

So far, yes, you’re asking for too much. But many people in China are wanting the same thing too (aside from shipping from Europe), according to the forums I’ve been reading. But they also think the current 899-999 local prices are too high, so go figure.

Thank you for the post, that is very interesting. However you do not mention audio-specs. I bought yesterday an Ampe A88 (and I confirm it runs on Android 4.2.2) but the Audio quality was really poor. I could hardly watch a movie on it. So I got a refund. Could you give me some advice about audio specs? Thanks a lot

Thank your for your reply Mike. I meant is there any tech specs about the audio equipments? I’m sorry I know nothing about audio specs, I just though maybe the technical sheets would mention the type of audio devices used in the tablets, that way we would know ? Or maybe have you tried yourself any of those tablets and could you recommend one with decent audio? Because A88 clearly doesn’t have any to me.

Audio specs are usually “one speaker, on the back.” Not even the reviewers mention audio, except in passing when testing video. It’s just not possible to warn people about which tablet has bad speakers or low audio volume. I wish it was.

Thank you very much for your reply. So I read almost all your posts about mini iPad clones and I still cannot decide which one I’ll buy. I need a tablet mainly to watch movies in the train so I need good quality video, good battery autonomy, and sd card slot. I also want fast internet navigation. Bluetooth and 3g would be a plus but it’s not mandatory. Which tablet would you recommend? Chuwi V88 (but sd card slot issue makes me doubt it…)? ICOO Fatty 2? Onda V818? Any other? Which one is the best choice according to you?
ps: I’m french but I travel to Guangzhou, China every week. Do you know any seller there?

Hi Mike
It’s incredible how many iPad clones there are available and what amazes me is how Chinese companies are now promoting that they are clones with claims like Tapered edges for “thinnest clone”. You mention wanting to view the battery on one of these clones, did you get a chance, have you viewed the inside of any of these clones? I only ask as non-genuine products are normally a nightmare to repair but as China is almost making a brand around the Apple clone I wondered if things have improved internally.
Best wishes
Brian

I just bought a ramos x10 and I when I downloaded Netflix , Hulu , YouTube and xfinity go they don’t work. The seller said I have to use google apk apps. Are you aware of this issue? I’m thinking about returning it since I’m not that tech savy. Also what do you think of the ifive mini 3?

If they’re saying you need to use APKs, then you probably don’t have Google Play installed? I really have no other idea, not owning the unit and not hearing others mention this. Sometimes there are problems with certain apps due to the mods Chinese tablet makers make to Android, which is why some of these tablets are no real bargain. If you can return it, I would advise you to.

Which iFive Mini 3? There’s non-Retina and Retina-class. Both are good but go for the Retina-class since the price difference isn’t that much. Google Play is also installed so you should have no problem with YouTube.